Women as mothers are always in traumatic condition whenever there is war in which male adults are participating; this is because they are the ones who suffered the pains of carrying humans in their womb and giving birth to them. In regards to the above, A scholar argued that women are always caught in a vicious paradox: while they are the main civilian victims of conflict, they are often powerless; prevented and excluded from the negotiations when it comes to their resolution and are confined to a marginal role of post conflict reconstruction and reconciliation efforts, the general exclusion of women from decision making positions prior to and during violent conflicts reinforces their victimization.
Clearly, women have been proven to be better at making and sustaining peace, their involvement in post-conflict leadership is indispensable. However, a properly gendered perspective of the contribution of women is very complex. The recent increase in government representation of women, just like post-genocide Rwanda, is an exemplary trend and can aid conflict prevention efforts. However, for this to be the case assumptions about women must be re-examined and potential dangers avoided.
Women are often the first who detect the signs of potential conflict, but because they have no direct access to the decision-making positions, they have few opportunities to inform on the necessity of preventive actions.
It is internationally recognised that deadly conflicts could be prevented by addressing the root causes and investing in development. Many women’s non-governmental organisations have taken concrete steps towards establishing systems of early warning and response. Those systems monitor potential crisis situations, collect information and generate analyses that can be used in generating conflict prevention actions.The bitter experiences of women in times of war often make them strong adherents of peace building and constitution making for conflict resolution.
Women play a particular role in the prevention of conflicts, as they are the main bearers of tradition and carry a special responsibility as educators of the young generation just as seen below:
.As educators, women should be aware of the positive and negative influence they may have on their children’s behaviour towards “the other” in the transmission of values and attitudes.
.Education for peace should be developed in the society as one of the major and permanent measures aimed at conflict prevention
. The training of present and future generations of children as peacemakers should be considered as a very important task for the public education systems
. The educational policies should be developed, both at the formal and non-formal levels, in order to integrate the respect for human rights, the practice of democracy, the promotion of peace and intercultural understanding into mainstream education (Those policies should include training programmes for professionals involved in educational activities, mass- media and decision –making).
# Women reforming the world
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